MBA in Financial Planning 2011
November 10, 2011
RE: Implementation of CLU Policy on Carnegie Hours
Issue
In Spring 2011, the University has adopted a new policy on the definition of the so-called Carnegie hours.
In essence, the definition says that one credit unit equals one hour of instructor-led activities and two
hours of independent work over 15 weeks. For a 3-unit course, this results in 45 hours of instructor-led
activities and 90 hours of independent work.
MBA-FP Response
1. In addition to the normal class times of 3 (4) hours over 11 weeks, all graduate courses must therefore
add additional activities in the amount of 12 (16) hours over the period of a term. At the School of
Management, these activities will be online.
Response: The MBA-FP will add a weekly online component to the 8-week classroom courses. A generic
workload statement for the onsite MBA in financial planning courses follows:
MBA in Financial Planning 2011
The credit hours may shift slightly depending on the topic and class size; however, the shift will not
violate the 45/90 total hour requirement.
The weekly online component (pre-recorded lecture, discussion board) will be added to the classroom
courses starting Spring 2012 (March).
2. All such online activities must be on the university’s standard online platform (currently Blackboard).
Response: CIF would like to utilize the Moodle platform for the financial planning classroom courses, at
least until CLU decides on one LMS provide (part of the strategic initiative). This would allow the prerecorded lecture content to be efficiently reused. Recreating content for Blackboard and then doing it
again for a new LMS would be inefficient.
3. Potential online activities include live-chats (please note that Blackboard currently only allows for
text chats), discussion boards, collaborative writing exercises and the like. Please note that any such
activity must be instructor-led (as opposed to independent); it therefore requires active direction and
involvement by the instructor.
Response: see response #1
4. Details on any such activity, especially on grading, times and deadlines must be clearly stated in the
syllabus.
Response: All course syllabi are reviewed by Harry Starn, Associate Director, prior to posting. Syllabi
include: student learning outcomes, activities linked to SLO’s, weekly schedules and grading matrix.
Assignments are typically due the end of class week; however, faculty has flexibility in adjusting the
timing of assignments.
5. Activities designed to make up for the differences between traditional class time and the Carnegie
Hours requirements other than online activities (e.g. field trips) are possible, but require separate
approval by the Program Director and the Dean or Associate Dean.
Response: N/A
6. In order to provide proper documentation, a detailed workload statement (see the following example)
has to be included in all syllabi.
Response: Workload statements will be incorporated into the online course syllabi for Term 3 (January).
Workload statements will be incorporated into the classroom course syllabi for Spring 2012 (March)
7. 8-week online programs seem to be in compliance so that no significant changes to the hours are
necessary. Nevertheless, 8-week programs also need to demonstrate that they are in compliance using
a workload statement.
Response: Yes, the online courses are currently in compliance. A generic workload statement for the
online MBA in financial planning courses follows:
MBA in Financial Planning 2011
END